Pressure-regulator



(No Modem pJ.-P. GOODING.

Y PRESSURE RBGLATOR.. Np. 298,687. Patented May 1s, 1884.'

lUrrnn JOHN F. GOODING, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

PRESSURE-REGULATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 298,687, dated May 13',1884.

Application tiled September 20, 1883. (No model.)

.To all whom t may conce/'11,:

Be it known that I, JOHN F. Goonrne, of New Haven, in the county of NewHaven, and in the State of Connecticut, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Pressure-Regulators; and I do hereby declare thatthe following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l shows a viewin elevation of my regulator, Fig. 2, a ,vertical central section of thesame 5 Fig. 3, a similar section of my regulator with a modified form ofadjustable governor applied thereto, and Fig. 4 a similar section of theregulator with another form of adjustable governor.

Letters of like name and kind refer to like parts in each ofthe figures.

The object of my invention is to provide an improvement inpressureregulators; and to this end it consists in the construction,arrangement, and combination of parts as hereinafter described,and morespecificall y pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, A designates the casing of the regulator, to be made ofbrass or iron, and which, as shown, in general form, consists of acentral spherical section with four cylindrical arms radiatingtherefrom. These arms are hollow, and the passages in them connect withthe interior of the hollow spherical central portion. The horizontalhollow arm A on the high-pressure side of the regulator contains theentrancepassage a., and is provided with a screw-threaded portionadapted for attachment to the supply-pipe or niain by a suitablecoupling. The other horizontal hollow arm, I3, is similarly providedwith a screw-threaded portion, to enable it to be suitably connectedwith the pipes on the lowpressure side of the valve-that is, with thepipes or conduits in which the pressure is to be regulated. The uppervertical arm, C, is larger than the lower one, D, and its cylindricalbore is larger than that of the lat-ter.

The central spherical portion, E, of the easing is provided within witha partition or diaphragm, F, extending from side to side of the casing,so as to divide the interior into two separate portions, as shown. Thispartition F consists of the two vertical walls f and g and thehorizontal part 7L. The upper vertical portion, f, is attached to thecasing on the high-pressure side of the regulator, and the lowerportion, g, to the casing on the lowpressure side. I/Vith thisarrangement and construction the steam or fluid from the supplypipe ormain passes in under the horizontal part h of the partition, dividingthe high from the low pressure side of the valve. Through thishorizontal part is a passage, G, provided with` the usual form ofvalveseat around its under edge. This opening is preferably circular,but may of course be made of other shapes, as desired. As shown, it ismade smaller than the bore of the arm D, in order that the valve whichis to close it may be of v the same size as said bore, as and for thepurpose to be hereinafter set forth.

Upon the lower end of the arm D is a screwcap, H, provided with a smallcentral passage or opening, 7s. The valverod K is provided with avalve-head, L, adapted to close with its upper face the openingGfroinbelow. The lowerface of this head is made llat and of' an area equal tothat of the bore of arm D.

Upon the lower end of the valve-rod, and fitting within the bore of saidarm,is a pistonhead, M. With this construction the area of thepiston'head upon which the pressure -of the steam or fluid from thehigh-pressure side of the valve acts is equal to that of the valve-`head upon which such steam or fluid also acts, but in an oppositedirection. The action of said steam or luid to force the piston or valverod down by pressure upon the upper face of piston-head M iscounterbalanced by the upward pressure upon the lower face of thevalve-head L, and the valve-rod will consequently not be moved.

Upon the valve rod, which entends up through the opening in thepartition and to or near the top of arm C, is a collar, c, between whichand a nut, Z, screwed upon the upper end of the rod, is clamped and heldthe cup-shaped piston-head N, similar to the one on the lower end of therod. This pistonhead lits and slides 'in the interior of the uppervertical arm, C. The area of thelower face of this pistoirhcad, uponwhich any steam or fluid above the partition F can act to press it up,is greater than that of thelower piston.

IOO

The valve-rod is provided with a small central longitudinal passage, O,extending throughout its length.

Upon the outside of the arm C, and near its upper end, is a flange, c',for a purpose to be hereinafter set forth. Upon the upper end of thisarm is screwed or otherwise fastened, as desired, a cap, l?. This screwsdown so as to leave a small space between its lower end and the collarc. With the form of regulator which I prefer, thiscap is of such alength as toleave, when it is screwed down in place, a chamber or spaceabove the end of the arm.

Threaded in and passing through the center of the top of the cap is thescrew R. Upon the top of this screw is the hand or thumb wheel S, of theordinary form.

Upon the lower end of the screw, and within the cap, is a plate, T,forming a follower. As shown, this plateis swiveledupon the end of thescrew by means of a small screw passing through the plate and into theend of the screw R, `but it can obviously be attached in any otherdesired way without departing from my invention. A spiral spring, U, isplaced between the follower-plate and piston-head,

so as to be compressed between them and bear down upon the latter. Theamount of this pressure is regulated by turning the wheel S to raise orlower the follower. The central longitudinal passage, O, through thepistonv rod allows the iiow of air from and into the space above thepiston-head as the rod and piston-head move up and down. It also servesto' draw off from the inclosed space any water or other fluid which maycollect therein from leakage around the piston-head, and `to conduct thesame down, so that it can flow out through the central opening inthelower cap, H. If desired, a small opening can be made in the uppercap, l?, so as to provide for the escape and infiow of air during themotions ofthe piston-head. In the modification sh own in Fig. 3 adifferent form of governor is used to regulate and adjust the amount ofpressure acting to force the piston and valve rod downward. In this casethe top cap, I), is shown as made shallower; but this is not necessary.An arm, Y, is provided with a ring or collar projecting at right anglesfrom its lower end. This collar is adapted to t over the upper end ofthe arm C and down upon the collar c.

. The cap,when screwed down into place, clamps this ring between itslower end and said collar and holds it iirmly.

In the upper end of the arm V is pivoted the end of the weighted leverNV. A short rod, Y, passes up through a central aperture in the top ofthe cap. This rod, at its lower end, is formed with a nut, y, to screwupon the upper end of the piston or valve rod, as shown. At its lowerend rod Y is provided with a short vertical passage, 1", forming acontinuation of passage O when the nut y is screwed down in place. Atransverse passage, y?, intersecting this vertical passage y',

is also provided in the short rod, opening into the space within thecap. Upon the upper end of this rod is screwed or otherwise fastcned aneye-nut, Z, through the eye of which passes the weighted lever, asshown. In the further modication shown in Fig. 4 the rod Y, as shown inFig. 3, is made longer, so as to receive and hold upon it a series ofremovable weights, z z, resting upon a collar, z', on the' rod. InV theform shown in Fig. 3 the amount of downward pressure upon the valverodis of course regulated by changing the position of the weight on thelever, while in that shown in Fig. 4 it is regulated by adding to orremoving some of the removable weights.

Instead of the pistons, diaphragms can be used having the valve-rodpassing through and fastened to them. Said diaphragms can be attached attheir edges to the casing by being clamped between the endsof the upperand lower hollow arms thereof and the respective caps or flanges withinthe latter.

As indicated above, the regulator can be made of brass, iron, or othermetal,las desired.

The spiral spring I Jrind. is best made of phosphor-brass; but I do notlimit myself to such material therefor.

The operation of my regulator is as follows: The steam or other fluidfrom the mains or supply-pipes enters the chamber a on the highpressureside of the valve. It passes in under the horizontal part of thepartition F, and presses with equal pressure upon the lower face of thevalve-head and the upper face of the lower piston, as the areas of thesefaces are equal. i With such construction and arrangcment the tendencyof the pressure upon the high-pressure side of the valve to move the rodin either direction is overcome and counterbalanced, and the rod is leftfree to be moved downward by even a slight weight or pressure upon itfrom above. If then, by means of the screw with the follower or plate onits lower end, the spring be compressed so as to press upon the upperpiston-head, or if weight be brought to bear upon the upper end of theValve-rod, as in the modifications shown and described, the rod will beforced down and the valve opened, so that the steam or iiuid can iiow upand into the low-pressure side of the valve. Such iiow will continueuntil the pressure in the pipes on the latter side of the valve becomessufiicient to press the upper piston-head upward against the downwardpressure ofthe spring or weight. Such upward movement of the piston-headcloses the valve again and prevents any increase of pressure in thepipes on the lowpressure side above the amount of pressure brought tobear upon the upper piston-head,

roo v IIO or directly upon the rod itself. At whatever regulator inwhich the spring is used, as it is very sensitive and can be used onvertical as well as horizontal pipes; but the other forms iu which theweighted lever and the series of weights are used willbe foundadvantageous for some purposes.

The form of regulator shown in Figs. l and 2, in which the spring isespecially adapted to all work of moderate reduction from high 1opressures, can be used in most instances; but where the reductionrequired is very great, where there is great difference between thepressure on the high and low pressure sides of the regulator, the formshown in Fig. 3 will be found more sensitive and better adapted for use.If the pressure on the supply side is low and the pressure on thelow-pressure side is to be maintained nearly at the pressure of theatmosphere, the form shown in Fig. 4L can be advantageously used, andwill be found very sensitive.

I do not claim herein as my invention, broadly, a valve-rod providedwith a longitudinal opening or passage; nor do I claim apressure-regulator which is not provided with means, substantially asshown and described hereinbefore, for allowing the ingress and egress ofthe air in the inclosed space above the piston-head on the valve-rod,and for drawing off any moisture that may collect in such space byleakage around the piston-head.

Having thus fully set forth the nature of my invention, what I claim visl. In a pressure-regulator, the high and low pressure chambers, thedividing-partition provided with a connecting-opening, the hollowvalve-rod passing through the opening and provided with a valve-head toclose said opening on the high-pressure side of the dividingpartition,the piston or equivalent device attached to the rod acted upon by thepressure in the high-pressure chamber alone, and forced outward therebywith a force equal to that eX- erted by said pressure upon. thevalve-head to force it and the rod inward to close the valve, the pistonor equivalent device on the other end of the rod, adapted to be actedupon by the pressure in the low-pressure chamber to move the valve-rodso as to close the valve, and au adjustable spring device or itsequivalent adapted to exert a yielding force upon the rod to move it soas to open the valve, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a pressureregulator, the high and low pressure chambers, thedividing-partition F, the valve-opening therein, the'valve-rod providedwith a longitudinal passage, the valvehead thereon acting on thehigh-pressure side 6o of the partition, the piston on the outer end ofthe rod working in a cylinder open to the air beyond the piston, andhaving an area equal to that of the portion of the valve-head upon whichthe contents of the high-pressure chamber exert an inward pressure toclose the valve, the piston on the other end of the rod working in aclosed cylinder and adapted to be pressed outward by the pressure in thelowpressure cha-mber, so as to close the valve, and adjustable means forexerting a yielding pressure upon the valve-rod to move it so as to openthe valve, all combined and operating substantially as shown anddescribed.

3. rIhe combination of the casing having the central valve-chamberdivided into the high and low pressure chambers and the upper and lowerhollow cylindrical portions connected therewith, the valve-rod carryingat each end a piston-head working in one of the cylindrical portions,and provided with a longitudinal passage opening at each end into thespace beyond the piston-head and outside of the valve-chamber, the capclosing the end of the upper cylindrical portion of the casing, andadjustable means for exerting a yielding. downward pressure on thevalve-rod to open the valve against the action of the pressure in thepipes, substantially as and for the purpose described.

4. The combination of the casing having the central valve-chamberdivided into the high and low pressure portions and having the upper andlower cylindrical chambers, the pistons working in the latter, the capon the upper cylinder, the hand-screw working through the cap,the-follower thereon within said cap, the spring between follower andthe top of the piston, and the valve-rod attached at each end to one ofthe pistons, and provided with a 1ongitudinal passage opening into thespace beioo youd the pistons and outside of the valvechamber,substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. In combination with the Valve, its operating-piston working in `asuitable cylinder, 105 the cap upon the cylinder for inclosing andholding the pressurespring and its adjusting mechanism in place, and thevalve-rod provided with a longitudinal passage opening into the spaceabove the piston and into the rio 4 open air below and outside of thevalve-chamber, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this18th day of 115 September, A. D. 1883.

JOHN F. GOODING.

Vitncsses:

J. A. WILLIAMS, TIMOTHY J. CROWLEY.

